Day Three Wrap-Up

#SoFI2014 has just ended on a great note.  Thanks again to all speakers, attendees, staff, and volunteers for working together and making this such a memorable event!

Our morning began with a highly entertaining presentation from Jason Young and Tracy Moore of MindBlown Labs, a company that has worked on creating fun, experiential learning tools.

Jason and Tracy shared a new app they’ve developed to bring financial education to young people in a creative way.  They told us that they began their design process by first developing the right questions – questions that are broad, interesting, and intended to instill a little discomfort.

We delved more deeply into some examples where commercial financial service providers have explored serving poor markets, and whether an economic case could be made for it.  Jeff Abrams and Natalia Gomez of Bankable Frontier Associates shared the experience of Banco Columbia in developing new models for delivering savings products where moving transactions beyond the bank branch enabled the bank to see significant reductions in costs.  Michael McCord of the MicroInsurance Centre and Lorenzo Chan of Pioneer Life talked about how a Philippines-based insurance provider rolled out a low-cost insurance product to meet a variety of emergency and health needs for an entirely new segment of clients.

In a session moderated by Matthew Bishop of The Economist, bKash’s Kamal Quadir, Stephen Pearcy of World Savings and Retail Banking Institute, and Greta Bull of IFC talked at a high-level about the potential impact of new players in financial service provision and the need to take stock of revolutions in how institutions see their role.

We wrapped up with a very engaging Q&A session where audience members gave feedback on what they’ve seen and heard over the past three days.  We heard a wide range of views, starting with an eagerness and appetite for more case study examples as more of the principles of client-centricity are put into action.  We also heard a relentless passion for connecting to the big picture:  that financial inclusion must be in service of giving the poor a greater stake in their own lives and the broader economy.

On behalf of The MasterCard Foundation, it was a privilege to be a part of this conversation.  We look forward to more posts at #SoFI2014.  We will also be sharing out videos, reports, and other reflections on where we are going next on the Symposium website at: www.mastercardfdnsymposium.org

Until #SoFI2015, keep well.